Rotary pump



june 7, 1932. A, W BURKS l,861,838

ROTARY PUMP Filed June 26. 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet l Ima/Mofo *f MW @MW A; w. BuRKs l,861,838

ROTARY PUMP June 7, 1932.

Filed June 26, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet' 2 June 7,1932. i y -A W BURKS 1,861,838

` ROTARY PUMP Filed June 26, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 31a/vento@ Patented June 7, 1932 .ARTHUR W. BURKS, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS ROTARY PUMP Application med :une 2e,

The present invention relates to pumps of the rotary type and more specifically has to do with an improvement upon the pump disclosed and claimed in my co-pending appli- 5 cation Serial N o. 121,961, iiled July 12, 1926.

This pump comprises a casing having a plurality of iuid passages or raceways each provided with an inlet and an outlet, the inlet and outlet of each raceway being spaced apart approximately 180. In other Words, the invention relates to the type of pump in which` the Water is subjected repeatedly, as it passes through the raceway, to the action of a rotor, but instead of subjecting the Water to the action of the rotor for as great a distance as possible around the periphery of the rotor, by locating the inlet and outlet of the raceway adjacent one another,` as has heretofore been thought necessary, I shorten the raceway to approximately 180 and utilize the additionall space of the complete circle thereby provided for a second raceway. The raceways are preferably disposed in a common plane and are longitudinally curved about a common axis with radii of the same length. Associated with the raceways is a rotor having an annular series of blades forming buckets adapted to traverse the several raceways and propel iuid through each from its inlet to its outlet.

An object of the invention is to provide a pump of this vtype with improvements which will increase its capacity, both in volume and pressure, Without increasing substantially the size of either the rotor or the raceways.

A further object of the invention is to provide a relatively high pressure and high capacity pump of this type which is of extremely simple construction and which will 'require little or no adjustment or repair over an extended period of use.

Another object of the invention is to improve the construction of the pump from a manufacturing standpoint whereby the parts of the pump may be more economically manufactured and readily assembled.

The invention also has to do with the construction of the various parts". It seeks to provide a raceway section separate and distinct from other sections of the pump whereof the raceway section;

1930. Serial No. 464,001.

by this section may be made from an alloy or relatively hard metal and separately machined.` The remaining parts with the exception of the rotor may be cast from comparatively inexpensive metal at a considerably lesser cost.

Still further the invention aims to provide a pump with a self-containedl strainer unit which may be readily removed for cleaning or replacement without detaching the s'train- 00 er carrying section from the pump or` disconnecting the pump from the supply or discharge lines.

The invention also aims to provide a unit or section of the pump, preferably cast, which .05

contains one or more pockets adapted to form a liquid air-separating Whirlpool at each racel Way ldischarge opening and also contains a ysupply chaniler which serves simultaneously to direct flui to each raceway inlet opening.

'These and other` objects of the invention will become clearer as the ldescription proceeds in connection with'a preferred embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings wherein, v y

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view on the line 1 1 of Figure 2. Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 2 2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view 0n the l80 line 3 3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a face view of ing the raceways.

Figure 5 is a face view of the opposite side the section carry- Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 6 6 of Figure 3.

Figure 7 is a face view of the rotor.

Figure 8 is a sectional view on the line 8 8 ofv Figure 4, and v 90,

Figure 9 is a sectional view on the line 9 9 `of Figure 4.

"My Patents 1,619,286, granted March 1, 1927' and 1,686,549, granted October 9, 1928, show pumps, of the general type to which .96 the present invention relates and reference to these patents will facilitate an understanding of the .mode of operation-of. the pump constituting the present` development.

As explained in these patents the liquid the longitudinally arcuate formation of the raceway and the rotation of the rotor, by a forwarder tangential force. The path actually taken by the fluid is a resultant of these two forces, Each amount of fluid operated upon in this manner obtains a great increase in velocity head which is imparted in the form of pressure head to the fluid immediately ahead in the raceway with the result that there is an immediate decrease iu velocity head on the part of the amount of. fluid which returns to the rotor and is again.

actuated thereby. ln passing through the raceway the fluid follows a helical course i. e., passes repeatedly into and out of the rotoi` buckets. until it reaches the outlet opening where its very high velocity head is changed to pressure head.

Further description of the functioning and operation of the pump is thought unnecessary with the exception that, as pointed out in the latter patent above mentioned, it has been found desirable to associate with `the rotor and preferably at the outlet opening of each raceway, means for maintaining a liquid airseparating whirlpool which engages the buckets as they pass the outlet for the purpose of displacing into the whirlpool fluid contained in the buckets. This displacing action is set up by locating the whirlpool pocket substantially tangential to the path of the buckets so that the liquid of the whirlpool, as it revolves, engages the buckets under the influence of centrifugal force and dislodges the bucket contents into the whirlpool. Any air or gas displaced from the buckets into the whirlpool is immediately separated from the liquid of the whirlpool by the centrifugal action set up.

The present pump embodies these features of the invention and increases the capacity of the pump by providing a plurality of raceways adapted to simultaneously receive liquid, independently of one another, and to discharge the same simultaneously. For this y purpose eachracevvay is provided with an inlet and an outlet independent of the inlet and outletl of the other raceway, or raceways, and fluid is propelled through the several raceways-by a singlefannular series of buckets ou the rotor.

At each outlet is located a pocket for maintaining a liquid air-separating whirlpool and the two pockets are in communication with the discharge connection. Thus each raceway separately receives fluid and separately discharges fluid from the pump as distinguished from a multiple stage construction in which fluid which is passed through one raceway returns to a rotor to be propelled through a second raceway. y

For producing the pumping action, above generally described, I provide a pump which includes a raceway portion 10, preferably in the'forin of an independent section of substantially platelike form (Figs. 4 and 5). On one lateral face are located raceways 11,

12 the former having an inlet opening 13 and an outlet opening 14 and the latter having an inlet opening 15 and an outlet opening 16. The several openings extend through the raceway section to the opposite lateral face and are of somewhat different form. The inlet openings 18 and 15 are narrow and arcuately elongated, being considerably narrower in width than the raceways, which are arcuate both longitudinally and in cross section (Fig. 2). At the forward ends 13, 15 of the inlet openings the back ofthe raceway plate is beveled s0 that liquid enters the raceway at a very slight angle to the plane of the raceway.

An outwardly projecting web 17 extends along the radially outer side of each inlet opening to separate the latter from a narrowed extension 18 of each raceway, the extension paralleling the inlet opening and merging with a cut-off 19 extendingfrom each inlet opening to the outlet opening of the other raceway whereby to prevent anv substantial portion of the liquid from passing the outletopening o f one raceway and reaching the inlet opening of the other.

Liquid travels through the two raceways yin the direction of the arrows 21 and is propelled by means of an annular series of buckets 22 formed on the rotor 23 which is secured to a rotor driving shaft 24. The shaft extends'through a stuffing box 25 (Fig. 1) and bearings 26 carried by arms 27 on a rotor housing section 28.y The buckets have bottoms 22 curved to conform to the cross sectional curvature of the raceways whereby the wall of the buckets and raceways merge together and form-in cross section substantially a complete circle adapted to facilitate the setting up of the helical whirling movement of the fluid as it passes into and out of the buckets in its travel through each raceway. At'the radially inner and outer sides of the raceways and of the series of buckets the rotor and raceway section are provided'with suitable sealing means such as complementa] ribs and grooves 30 whichv at one or'more points 31 (Fig. 4) may have slight notches to permit a small amount of liquid to flow from the raceway into the grooves, thereby reducing the friction between the opposed faces of the rotor and race way section. These notches should be very small so as to permit to How inwardly only a suflicient amount of liquid to maintain the grooves filled.

The raceway section is formed with a plurality of openings 31 through which project cap screws 32 for the purpose of securing the section to the rotor housing 28 and to a supply section 32 which preferably is formed separately from the raceway section. This is desirable for the reason that the raceway lo section must be accurately machined, and this work may be done more readily upon a separate independently formed section. Moreover, it has been found that the operation of the pump is more effective if an alloy or other hard metal similar to the metal of the rotor is employed for the raceway portion of the pun1p, due to the close working fit between the same and the face of the rotor. By separately forming the raceway section, the re-G i 'ings 13, 15; this chamber is excluded from the outletopenings by mea-ns of a second chamber which' comprises an upper pocket 36 and a lower pocket 37 disposed respectively at the discharge or outlet openings 14, 16. The 35 pockets are connected by a reduced passage 38 and one of the same, in the present instance the upperpocket 36, communicates directlg with the discharge connection 39 which is, t erefore, in communication with both 4o pockets of the chamber. The other lower pocket 37 has a drain opening 40 closed by a plug 41.

These pockets serve to maintain adjacent each discharge opening a liquid, air-separating whirlpool adapted to separate air by centrifugal action. The whirling path of the liquid in each chamber is indicated by the arrows W in Figure 6. 'In order to avoid eddy currents and to permit the liquid of the whirlpool to engage the buckets as they pass the discharge openings, the rear face of each section at the discharge o enings has beveled walls 43,. these walls orming a considerable portion of the pocket at one side 55. thereof; they servepto direct the liquid of the whirlpool into the buckets as the latter pass the discharge openings. Any air or'gaseous fiuid contained in the buckets will be displaced into the whirlpool as the liquidof the latter engages the buckets and once in the whirlpool will be separated from the liquid by centrifugal .ac-tion. The' air will pass-.onwardly through the supply line and during gaseous fluid pumping there will always be maintained in'each pocket a sufcient amount of the liquid to displace air or gas from the buckets. Any water from the whirlpool which remains in the buckets after they pass from a discharge opening continues onwardly through the other raceway and is discharged through the outlet opening of the latter. p

As will be observed, the discharge connection 39 communicates directly With one pocket 36 and through the latter with the other pockets, so that liquid and air from the lower pocket 37 must travel upwardly through the passage 38 and through the other pocket before it reaches the discharge. connection.

The pump section 32 has a supply connection 44 which is in communication with the chamber 34. In the present instance, the supply connection is formed on a separate section 45 having a marginal flange 46 complemental to a flange 32 on section 32, the two fianges having registering threaded openings into which may be inserted cap screws 47. The section 45 serves to close the chamber 34 and carries a screening member 48 of tubular form through the wall of which the entering liquid must passlbefore it reaches the chamber 34. This screen is disposed at the open bottom 49 of an entrance chamber 50 and has its lower end supported by means of a removable cap 51 whichserves to close an opening,.52. v

The cap 51 has a circular boss 53 tapered "so as to clamp the wall of the screen against the edge of the opening 52 and the cap is held in position by means of a supporting plate 54 having one end resting on aledge 55 and its other end removably secured to the section 45 by means of a cap screw 56. This construction permits theJ screening element to be removed for cleaning or replacement without separating the pump sections or disturbing Athe supply line connection. As will bey understood, removal of the plate 54 permits the cap plate 51 and screen to drop through the opening 52.

The entrance chamber 50 may have an openng 59 closed by a plug 60 and may also havean opening 61 normally closed by a valve 62. This valve may be opened for the purpose of admitting air to the supply chamber 34, as when the pump is utilized for pumping air to build up air pressure.

F or .the purpose of supporting the structure a base 62 may be uti'lized, the same having upstanding bracket arms 63 adapted to cooperate with. laterally extending lugs 64 on the rotor housing 28, cap screws 69 serving to secure the section 28 to the bracket arms. The rotor housing 28 thus serves to support the remainder of the pump, since the screws 32 secure the raceway section and the supply section 32 to the rotor housing 28, and the section 32 has secured thereto and Supports the supply connection section 45.

The operation of the pump will be clearfrom the foregoing description, since the functions of the various parts have been described in connection with the detailed description. Obviously, the construction of the pump may be varied considerably without de- I parting from the invention theessential fea.- tures of Whichv are set forth in the following claims.

l claim:

l. In a pump of the class described, a rotor having an annular series of buckets, a plurality of longitudinally arcuate fluid raceways associated with said buckets, each raceway having an inlet and an outlet, a pump section carrying said raceways, a. supply chamber having an inlet connection and opening into said raceways through said inlets, and an outlet chamber at each outlet having a discharge connection, said outlet and supply chambers being located in a common pump section and the outlet chambers being connected to one another whereby fluid from one chamber passes through the other to said discharge connection.

2. In a 'pump of the class described, a rotor having an annular series of buckets, a plurality of longitudinally arcuate fluid race- Ways associated with said buckets, each raceway having an inlet and an outlet, a pump 'section carrying said raceways, a supply chamber having an inlet connection and opening into said raceways through said inlets, and an outlet chamber at each outlet having a discharge connection, said outlet and supply chambers being located in a common pump section separate from said raceway section and the outlet chambers being connected to one another whereby fluid from one chamber passes through the other to said discharge connection.

3. In a pump of the class described, a rotor having an annular series of buckets, a

' plurality of longitudinally arcuate fluid raceways associated with said buckets, each raceway having an inlet and an outlet, a pump section. carrying said y,raceWays, a supply chamber having an inlet connection and opening into said raceways through said inlets, and an outlet chamber at each outlet having a discharge connection, said outlet chambers being connected to one another whereby fluid from one chamber passesl through the other to said discharge Connection, said outlet and supply chambers being located in a common section, and a third pump section carrying the supply connection for said inlet chamber and serving to close the latter.

4. In a pump of the class described, a

rotor having an annular series of buckets, a

plurality of longitudinally arcuate fluid raceways associated with said buckets, a pump section carrying said raceways and having openings therethrough forming inlets and outlets for said raceways, a supply chamber having an inlet connection and opening into said raceways through said inlets, and an outlet chamber at each outlet having a discharge connection, the outlet chambers being connected to one another whereby fluid y from one chamber passes through the other to said discharge connection, said outlet and supply chambers being located in a common section, a third pump section carrying the supply connection for said inlet chamber and serving to close the latter, and a strainer in said last-mentioned section intermediate the supply connection and said chamber.

5. In a pump of the class described, a rotor having an annular series of buckets, a plurality of longitudinally arcuate fluid raceways associated With said buckets, each raceway having an inlet and an outlet, a pump section carrying said raceways, a supply chamber having an inlet connection and opening into said raceways through. said inlets, and an outlet 'chamber at each outlet having a discharge connection, the outlet chambers being connected to one another whereby fluid from one chamber passes through the other `to said discharge connection, said outlet and supply chambers being located in a common section separate from said raceway section,

a third pump section carrying the supply connection for said inlet chamber and serving to close the latter, and a strainer in said last-mentioned section intermediate the supply connection and said chamber, said strainer being removable Without disconnection of the chamber section and the strainer carrying section and without disconnecting a supply line.

6. A pump of the class described comprising a rotor, a section having a longitudinally arcuate fluid raceWay and formed with a raceway inlet and a raceway outlet extending therethrough, a second section secured to saidirst-mentioned section and provided .Way on one face thereof and formed with a iacevvay inlet and a raceway outlet extending therethrough to the opposite face, a secondsection secured to said first-mentioned section, said second section having an interior supply chamber leading through the inlet opening to said raceway and also having a discharge chamber at said outlet to receivey `fluid discharged therethrough from the racevvay, a discharge connection on said second section leadingfrom said discharge chamber, and a third section secured to said second section and closin one wall thereof, said last-mentioned sectlon carrying a supplyconnection.

8. A pump of the class described comprising a rotor, a section having 'a longitudinally arcuate fluid raceway and formed with a raceway inlet and a raceway outlet extending therethrough, a second section secured to said first-mentioned section, said second section having an interior supply chamber leading through the inlet opening to said raceway and also having a discharge chamber at said outlet from said raceway to receive fluid discharged therethrough from the raceway, a discharge connection on said second section leading from said discharge chamber, a third section secured to said second *section and closing one wall thereof,said last-mentioned section carrying a supply connection, and -a strainer interposed between the supply connection and the said supply chamber.

9. In a pump of the class described, Aa raceway section having a plurality of llongitudinally arcuate raceways at one lateral face thereof, each raceway having an yinlet open# ing and an outletA opening both of which extend lthrough the section to the o posite discharge opening for a discharge connectlon.I

and being formed adjacent each raceway outlet with a liquid whirl col-forming pocket adapted to separate air ycentrifugal force,

one pocket communicating through the other with said dischar e connection'.

In testimony W ereof I have hereunto set A m hand. s

y y ,ARTHUR W. BURKS.

lateral face, a rotor having a series of uckets v adapted to traverse said raceways, and an inlet section secured to said raceway section having .a supply connection and disposed at said oppositeface, said inlet section having an interior chamber communicating withsaid supply connection and with said race-` ways through said inlet openings, and a sepa-` rate chamber for receiving ,luld discharged through said outlet o enings.

10. In a pump o theclass described, a raceway sectlon having a plurality of longitudinally arcuate raceways at one lateral face thereof, each raceway having an inlet opening and an outlet opening both of which extend through the sect-ion to the opposite lateral face, a rotor having a series of buckets adaptedto traverse said raceways, and an inlet section secured'to said raceway section i having a supply connection and disposed at said opposite face, said inlet section having an interior chamber communicating..with said supply connection and. with said raceways through said inlet openingsz and also-` having a separate chamber for recelving uid discharged through said outlet openings, said last-mentioned chamber havin a discharge opening for a discharge connection and being formed adjacent each raceway7 outlet with a. 

